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Situation in Tuva after the earthquake remains calm

No facts of looting and disturbances of public peace have been registered

GORNO-ALTAISK, February 27 (Itar-Tass) — The situation in Tuva after the recent earthquake in the republic remains calm. There is no panic among the local population. No facts of looting and disturbances of public peace have been registered, the republic’s Interior Ministry reported in Kyzyl on Monday.

According to the ministry, on February 26 the Interior Ministry personnel were alerted immediately after the earthquake. A total of about 2,000 interior personnel and 180 service vehicles were engaged in the emergency efforts. Squads of the patrol and inspection service, department of private security, traffic police department are ensuring citizens’ security in an emergency mode. The public awareness campaign has started in order to prevent panic. The republic’s population has been informed about the police hotline telephone numbers and numbers of duty units of the territorial police and emergency situations departments.

Two operational groups of the Interior Ministry have been sent to the Kaa-Khem district where the earthquake’s epicentre was located. They include psychologists, logistics officers, personnel service representatives, officers of public order maintenance and criminal investigation department. The guarding of 19 territorial and 6 district election commissions, to which ballot papers have been brought has been reinforced.

Deputy chairman of the republic’s life support administration Konstantin Skoromin said that the night in the Kaa-Khem district passed relatively calmly, all the heads and specialists of the administration, leadership of enterprises and institutions were in the workplace. The inspection of buildings and dwelling houses was started in the morning, and the arrival of the commissions of the Housing Maintenance and Utilities Agency, the Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Public Health of Tuva was expected in the short run.

The spread of aufeis waters was stopped in the Mergen River near the Saryg-Sen village, the threat to it was eliminated, the press service of the republic’s government told Itar-Tass. The dam building efforts and strengthening of the roadway continued. Brigades of workers were formed for sawing through the ice to make the water flow away from the district centre.